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Lebu Bhaat and Topshe Machh Bhaja

Lemon flavored
rice with ghee and scrapped coconut served with Topshe fish fry

It is to no wonder a poet like "Iswar Gupta"
composed a lengthy poem solely on "Tapse fish or "Mango fish" by the British. Iswar
Gupta was highly addicted to the Topse fish.

Ishwar Gupter Granthabali - Vol.1-2 pg. 122

Topse a soft-bone fish, close to extinct, now in 2014 is Rs 700 a kilo [about
15 fishes]. I heard from my father it was available in the 1950s approximate half a
rupee per 20 pieces. Still Bangalees love it very much.

Legendary director and renowned writer Satyajit Ray wrote a
total of 35 Feluda [detective] stories. The detective Pradosh Mitter's favorite
cousin-cum-assistant Topse [Topeshranjan Mitter] is to Feluda as was Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes and the narrator in all the stories. I doubt if the name Topse came to his mind from the intense love for "Topse fish" he had.

Oh Bengali, come, let us find some substitutions of our favorite Topse, we
will be proud to import and serve our children, let them introduce our own
dishes once more.

Bengali style Lemon rice [Lebu bhaat]

By Barnali Dutta

Published 03/09/2014

This rice dish is exclusively served as a starter of a meal during any Bengali celebration. Best offering accompany with this lemon-flavored piping hot rice is with 1 teaspoon cow ghee, 1 tablespoon
freshly scrapped coconut [নারকেল কোরা], 1 piece of gandharaj lebu [গন্ধরাজ লেবু], and 1 green chili with just cooked hot Topse fry
[তপসে মাছ ভাজা]. It will be a memorable meal for everybody.

Ingredients

Instructions

Cook plain rice, after draining starch, add slightly torn up four gandharaj lemon leaves in the cooked rice and cover the rice bowl with a lid, keep aside for 5 minutes. Rice will get a strong flavor of lemon.

Nutrition: Total calories per tablespoon 55

Topse Fish Fry

By Barnali Dutta

Published 03/09/2014

Bengalee's favorite Topse fish may be easily available soon. Bengalis who are living outside of
their state may find some suitable options of
their Topse fish, but Gangetic Topse is no doubt sweeter than other marine species.

Instructions

Clean and wash thoroughly the fish and marinate with salt and turmeric, keep
it aside.

Make a smooth batter with rest of the ingredients [except oil
and poppy seeds], keep aside for 10 minutes.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based deep pan until smoking point
then turn the fire to low.

Add poppy seeds to the batter, mix a little, take the fish one by one,
dip it into the batter, just coat a little batter smoothly and deep fry them until
they are properly cooked and make
a shinny golden fry.

Prep time: 00:10
| Cook time:
00:05
|
Total time: 00:15 | Yield: 2 servingsIngredients
Ingredients:
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By Barnali Dutta,
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According to our forefathers this is the time at the end of the monsoons when people should start eating herbs in Bengal. I still wonder how much have we progressed or advanced or modernized from our forefathers. Man has left behind a wonde…

Sabir's Mutton Rezala Recipe
Sabir's Mutton Rezala Recipe
By Barnali Dutta,
published by Prasadam: October 13, 2014Mutton Rezala with Paratha is the most desirable dish during the festive season of our family due to its comparitively low richness, the fact which has set our mind free to eat sufficient red meat once in a year in the tropical geographical climatic region like Kolkata. The word 'rezala' stands for "khoobsurat" meaning beautiful. In reality the beauty of this highly popular Mughal dish Rezala [lamb or goat meat in a thin yogurt sauce] can only be understood by those who have tasted it from the menu of Sabir's Hotel. This eatery situated at 3 and 5 Biplabi Anukul Chandra Street, Chandni Chowk metro station, kolkata acquainted the Bengali cuisine in the year 1948.
Said Sabir Ali from the state of Uttar Pradesh came to Kolkata in search of earnings. While working for a daily meal eatery where he used to make tikia and paratha he conceived th…